Political War Wages On

I still can't get it. How can anybody still sit down on the couch, stay up to well past midnight, get a bottle of beer (or maybe a bowl of popcorns), and cheer on the EURO 2008? I mean, it doesn't really matter who wins the match, right?

I mean, after all, football (or sucker socker soccer) is just a game. Nobody will give a damn to those silly games with so many things to worry about.

Don't you know? Oil prices have skyrocketed to US$140 per barrel. In fact, a new electricity tariff has been implemented lately. If prices keep going up, sooner or later every milliwatt of electricity and every drop of oil will cost us each an arm and a leg. Yeah well, you can still watch football with just one leg, you only need two to play it.

Don't you know? The US Dollar is seriously weakened. This means that the buying power of the States will be diminished. And this will seriously devastate the income of various Asian countries, including Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. With Asian countries going poorer, OK, maybe we really need two arms and two legs to watch football.

Don't you know? The political chaos that picked up after the March general elections hasn't died down yet. In fact, it just got stronger. Anwar Ibrahim plans to take over the government by means of defecting lawmakers from Barisan Nasional (BN). And he doesn't need too many of them to be successful. After all, Pakatan Rakyat snatched over one third of the parliamentary seats months ago.

Don't worry, regardless of who our leaders are, I'm sure none of them will ban you from watching football matches. Maybe PAS will ban beer drinking and ball-betting, though.

Instead of chasing after the ball, why not witness the battle in the Malaysian Arena of Politics (MAP)?

The Deputy Prime Minister is under a lot of stress these few days. Raja Petra Kamarudin recently claimeded that his wife was present during the murder of the Mongolian beauty Altantuya Shaariibuu (why the extra vowels?). If this is true, BN will be smashed to pulp.

Anwar Ibrahim, on the other hand, has been accused of sodomy by a 23-year-old man. What's interesting about this man is that he was a volunteer at Anwar's office during the elections, he left the post a day before accusing his employer ex-employer, and that he is an employee of the government. Another interesting note is that Anwar had been wrongly accused of sodomy ten years ago.

Of course, not to mention the call by SAPP to vote against the PM. This betrayal on the leader of BN is unforgivable. At happier times, BN would happily fire SAPP from the coalition. However, doing so now will cause BN to lose three more parliamentary seats.

I also sympathise the Penangites. With the Penang Second Bridged being delayed again and again, the Penang Outer Ring Road (PORR) and the Penang Monorail has been taken off the 9th Malaysian Plan. Is this an attempt by BN to sabotage the opposition party DAP or to punish Penangites for refusing to show support for BN?

As you can see, the political war is raging on. This is the war that will affect our lives. Why should we bother which goal the silly black-and-white ball enters halfway across the globe?

By the way, who won EURO 2008?